Dark Valkyrie

Sixteen: Endgame

Sixteen: Endgame

The Riders had barely got in the air when the Fliers crossed the cliffs and launched their attack. Fire bolts rained down on the village of Berk and Vikings ran for it-but not very far. Used to attacks by dragons for centuries and then from Outcasts and Berserkers, the Hooligans were not about to lie down and submit. The men ran for their familiar places at the catapults, the women gathered their children and scooted for the safety of the Great Hall while Gobber raced to the forge to hand out weapons and the teens scrambled for their dragons-or to the fire crew. Though they weren't being raided by dragons now, a large number lived on Berk and small fires were common so the younger teens still manned the fire crew and now they were quivering with excitement at finally seeing battle.

"Attack!" Stoick bellowed from the back of Skullcrusher, his Rumblehorn. Waving his axe, he accelerated directly towards the attacking dragons. He didn't underestimate them-after all, they had faced wild Singetails on Storehouse Island-but this time, he knew that Berk was at stake. Retreat wasn't an option and defeat was unthinkable-because Stoick couldn't imagine his home and people under the thumb of Viggo Grimborn, a man who sold dragons as a commodity and who had callously blockaded and starved Berk in a cowardly ploy to cause his son to withdraw from their war. From the corner of his eye, he saw Snotlout yell and lead the attack, his flaming Monstrous Nightmare strafing the fliers as the twins followed, the billowing green gas of the Zippleback swirling around and then igniting.

"A Team-to me!" Gustav shouted and directed Sven, Bucket and Mulch and Gothi to take the left flank. Fishlegs and Heather took the right while Stoick, Snotlout and Spitelout all slammed into the middle. Individual duels broke out all over the skies, with the Dragon Riders concentrating on unseating the Fliers, which left their dragons to abandon them and fly away. But the Fliers had no qualms and strafed the houses without mercy, explosions blasting the Plaza and starting fires. Gobber growled and bellowed a mouthful of curses before kicking his Hotburple, Grump.

"C'mon, Grump-we need to get up there!" he shouted, swapping out his hook for an axe attachment. The large, slow-moving dragon gave a little burp and closed his eye once more but Gobber kicked him with his peg leg. "These are Hunters, Grump!" the smith insisted urgently. The eye snapped open and the dragon lumbered to his feet straight away, barging Gobber aside as he lumbered to the door. "That's it, yeh lazy lump," he said in relief and jumped onto the dragon's back as they rose up to meet the attackers.

oOo

Back on the leading Hunter ship, Viggo stared at the jagged outline of the island of Berk...and then he raised his fist.

"FIRE!" he commanded and they unleashed the catapults. The front seven ships fired on the village, boulders arching through the sky and slamming into the cliffs, the ships in the port and the houses and stores in the lower town. Muttering among themselves, the Hunters obeyed and methodically reloaded and fired the catapults as the ships closed on the coast. Viggo could hear them muttering and he folded his arms but said nothing: the men were complaining that this didn't catch them any more dragons and he couldn't be bothered to explain that shattering the Dragon Riders and their ridiculous sentimental antics would clear the way for Viggo to capture and kill whatever dragons he wished at will. Nor that he had no intention of helping Johann locate the 'King of Dragons' and support his plot for ultimate power. He had a nasty suspicion that the late Krogan's backer would have something to say about that and getting caught between two powerful amoral men would simply be bad for business.

But for now, he was prepared to hazard a few losses to remove the most potent enemy he had ever encountered, a man who had seeming escaped death at every turn and who seemed to be blessed with incredible luck.